Santa Rosa Rose Parade
This weekend Santa Rosa celebrates its 121st Annual Luther Burbank Rose Parade and Festival. Wait a minute… isn’t it older than the Tournament of Roses Rose Parade in Pasadena? Sorry, No! That event celebrates its 126th Rose Parade in 2015, so it beats out Santa Rosa’s rose celebration by five years. Nobody really cares in Sonoma County where research, horticulturist and inventor Luther Burbank lived. His Russet Burbank potato helped feed many people during the Irish Potato famine and with the earnings from his invention he relocated from Massachusetts to Santa Rosa, Calif. Purchasing four acres he conducted crossbreeding experiments and successfully grew several hundred new fruit and nut varieties, as well as roses, daisies and many other flowers. Luther Burbank died in Santa Rosa in 1926 at the age of 77 and is buried in the garden of his home which is now a museum open to the public. If you miss this rose festival there’s another taking place in Wasco in September.
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